Posted on 04/12/2005 11:19:52 PM PDT by churchillbuff
O'Reilly has written a dustjacket blurb for Bishop Spong's new book: "The Sins of Scripture challenges Christians to look beyond the myths of their faith into the heart of the matter." I also got an email from a Spong-promoting outfit that says O'Reilly will have Spong on his show.
Here's the Publishers Weekly review on amazon:
Spong, a retired Episcopal bishop and prominent spokesperson for liberal Christianity, focuses this book on "terrible texts" which have been used to justify such "sins" as overbreeding, degradation of the environment, sexism, child abuse and anti-Semitism. These biblical texts, according to Spong, are not the incontrovertible Word of God, but flawed human responses to perceived threats. An incendiary example of this is Spong's assertion that Paul was a closeted gay man whose anti-gay statements were motivated by little more than his own self-loathing. Spong does not stop there; in the course of the book he suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married; that none of the supernatural events described in the Bible took place (including the resurrection); and that theism itself is a misunderstanding of God. Interestingly, readers who do not endorse Spong's radical reinterpretation of Christianity will still find much in this book they can affirm. His explanation of the roots of Christian anti-Semitism is fascinating and much less challenging to orthodoxy than many of his other claims. Unfortunately, Spong leads with his weakest section, which features a variety of poorly constructed arguments claiming, but giving inadequate evidence for, a strong causal relationship between biblical injunctions and both overpopulation and environmental problems. Nonetheless, this absorbing book has much to offer readers of all persuasions.
I had a church friend who went to China on a (secret) mission trip. When she came back she shared how she would tell her Chinese Christian friends, "We (back in America) are praying for you," and they would reply, "And we are praying for *you*," as if they were kindly saying, "you need it more than we do!"
he's also a deceiver.
b.o. is a very stupid person. he had a difficult time believing the swifties, but he sure didn't mind giving Dan Rather the benefit of the doubt. b.o. is an idiot.
He's strikes me as the kind of person who would earnestly try to explain to God why He was wrong.
yes, those christians being persecuted all around the world make us look like spineless wimps by comparison.
He's actually an apostate - one who has turned away from and rejected Christ and his church. Blasphemy, bad as it is, is less serious. Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" was blasphemous.
A well-known Biblical "scholar" who denies the virgin brith, denies the miracles, and denies the resurrection. Liberal "Christianity" epitomized. It's apostasy - nothing more.
He isn't into literal readings, that's true.
take, for example, muslims who convert to christianity. there could be a sentence of death for that. and yet we westernized christians can have our days disrupted by the silliest little things. i'm the first to plead guilty to that :o)
I am wary of those who claim to have faith which doesn't lead them to find out what God's will is.
I'm sure you will respect the Anti-Christ too. After all he is a man, he can't be all bad....right?
Exactly.
Spong also denies 2000 years of apostolic tradition and teaching. One who denies the central doctrines of Christianity - established by the Holy Spirit through scripture and guided by Him through apostolic teaching over two millenia - is not a Christian. Period.
Yes, it's a free country. If I want to, I can call myself a feminist. It would be every bit as true as Spong's claim to be a Christian. Spong is a liar. His actual belief is nihilism, not Christ. It is the nihilistic, degenerate apsotasy of such "theology" that has resulted in the great falling away from faith in Europe - which will soon be a province in the Muslim Caliphate. Spong is anathema, and his teachings and writings are lies.
It's never "wrong" to accept the children God gives you!!! Each child is a gift and a blessing, and Protestantism's recent embrace of artificial contraception and antagonism to childbearing is one of its major failings.
Nobody "has to" go on welfare, surely not two-parent families. For every family on welfare I bet there's a comparable family who manages without. If a person accepts welfare when they could make money themselves then that could be sinful, something along the lines of sloth.
I don't completely accept Spong's writings, but I hold no hard feelings against him. I refuse to hate someone for their beliefs as long as those beliefs are lawful.
"Actually he's a well known Biblical scholar and devoutly religious from an early age, but he's getting on in years."
Were you referring to Satan or the defrocked Bishop Spong?
Why do you equate opposition with personal hatred? I only know the man through his statements and writings - which I find utterly abominable and nihilistic. Perhaps I would find some redeemable quality in the man if I were to meet him in person. Even so, because of the statements and writings, I would still view him as a liar and apostate who is attempting to lead others away from faith through his lies and apostasy. He must be opposed, therefore.
Since Spong clearly rejects all of the core doctrines of Christianity, why can't he at least be honest and up front about it and state that he's an agnostic or an atheist? Instead, he resorts to tortured intellectual arguments about how his unbelief is actually true belief. Spong - the ultimate post-modernist. What does this say about the Episcopal Church USA? A living church would have excommunicated him decades ago for such nonsense. Because of Spong, Robinson and the rest, one can only describe the Episcopal Church USA as a maggot covered corpse - rotting in the sun for all to see and reeking of the stench of death.
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